Laoag City has received another award as the city police chief, P/Supt. Wilson Joseph F. Lopez, has been named as one the Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service (COPS). The said award is organized by the Metrobank Foundation Inc., wherein they search for the most outstanding policemen from around the country. Lopez received his award from Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Malacañang Palace on July 12. In his return to the city, Lopez expressed his gratitude to the people behind the achievement, specifically citing the community, his fellow police officers, and the members of the tri-media who took charge of information dissemination, as he stressed that without them winning the award would not be possible. According to Lopez, some of the major criteria used in the search for the top police officers were crime solution efficiency, and crime prevention, both with the active participation of the community. With the award, Lopez vowed to continue doing his best as Laoag’ police chief. The Ilocos Times also learned that other bases for the selections of COPS were the accomplishments of the police officer from the start of their police service until the present. Among the outstanding accomplishments of Lopez include the arrest of Marcelino Vinluan, one of Region I’s most wanted persons, who was wanted for rape and had a monetary reward of P175,000; the arrest of Fernando Pable and Julius Caesar, fifth and third most wanted persons respectively, in La Union, and who were both included in the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) most wanted persons and who carried a monetary reward of P200,000 each. On top of these, Lopez also encouraged the people of Region I that led to the arrest of the six most wanted persons in the whole Ilocos region as well as the arrest of three notorious drug pushers in the region wherein 76.06 grams of shabu along with other drug paraphernalia were confiscated. In addition to this, all police stations where Lopez were assigned had a 100 percent crime efficiency solution, which paved the way for his station to be awarded as the Most Outstanding Police Station in October 2006. Reacting to the award, Laoag Mayor Michael V. Fariñas congratulated Lopez for the feat as he requested the Sangguniang Panlungsod to pass a resolution commending the city police chief. Meanwhile, the mayor debunked rumors about the alleged relief of Lopez as city police chief. According to Fariñas, upon hearing about the report, he immediately called up Lopez, who was then in Malacañang to see if the police officer knew about it. Lopez, the mayor said, was also surprised by the report. Fariñas stressed that as the local chief executive he must also be informed officially if there is any change in police leadership in the city. The two-term mayor also praised Lopez for his recent achievement as he rated his performance as “satisfactory.” Lopez, for his part, confirmed that he has not received any official information yet regarding the alleged relief order. However he explained that this may be because of the recently concluded election wherein newly elected mayors want the chance to choose their respective police chiefs and Laoag was included. The Ilocos Times learned that though there was reshuffling of police chiefs around the province, Laoag City was not included. Lopez added that a chief of police has a maximum tenure of two years but this does not mean that he could stay in an area for the said period of time since he could be relieved anytime by his commanding officers. Lopez became the city police chief in July 2006. Dominic B. dela Cruz
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